Tuesday, 10 December 2013

Let our voices be heard:
International Human Rights Day-FSN joins the
rest of the world in commemorating International Day of Human Rights 2013.

Female Students Network joins the rest of the world
in celebrating the International Human Rights Day. Human Rights Day promotes awareness
of human rights issues around the world and it helps to buttress the point that
everybody has the right to have their voice heard and to have a role in making
the decisions that shape their lives and their communities.

FSN will
continue to educate and share with female students about their rights, which
include the right to participate fully in the important decisions and policies
affecting their lives.
That means not only the democratic processes, but also the key economic decisions
that can have such a huge impact on individuals, families, and even entire
groups and nations.

For female students,
the right to accommodation is very important because some of the end up
engaging in immoral activities just to get money for proper and decent
accommodation. The Network therefore urges the government to bring back grant
so that students can be able to fend for themselves just like they did when the
government was still offering the grants.

This will not only
benefit the students but the nation as a whole because what good will it bring
to have an HIV infested youthwho get
involved in sexual relationships for food and accommodation, something that
canbe prevented by the return of
students grants. By this the Network is not condoning the immoral behaviour by
female students but is trying to find a solution to the problem.

Female students also
have a right health but the unhygienic ways in which they dispose sanitary ware
in most tertiary institutions leaves a lot to be desires. There is need
therefore for the relevant Ministries such as the Ministry of Women Affairs,
Gender and Community Development as well as the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary
Education, Science Technology Development to put measures of hygienic sanitary
disposal such as incinerators and disinfectant soaps in toilets.

There is also need to
intensify efforts of protecting female students from sexual harassment because
most of them are not aware of the Sexual Harassment Policy and the few that
know about it are ignorant of its contents.

On this day, the Network would also like to take the
opportunity to salutes all those who have suffered so much seeking what is
rightfully theirs.

The voices of too many women and girls, in particular,
continue to be stifled through discrimination, threats and violence and this is
holding back progress for women and for all members of society.

FSN believes that women’s participation is fundamental
for sustainable development, peace and democracy and as we commemorate the
international human rights day, we should remove the barriers to women’s full
and equal participation in the economy, in politics and in all aspects of
public life.